Corporations using ‘ineffectual’ carbon offsets are slowing path to ‘real zero’, more than 60 climate scientists say

Graham Readfearn 

Environment and climate correspondent

THE GUARDIAN
Sun 27 October 2024 

Trees used to offset emissions rerelease carbon back into the atmosphere when they die, such as in droughts or wildfires.Photograph: Richard Newstead/Getty Images

Carbon offsets used by corporations around the world to lower their reportable greenhouse gas emissions are “ineffectual” and “hindering the energy transition”, according to more than 60 leading climate change scientists.

A pledge signed by scientists from nine countries, including the UK, US and Australia, said the “only path that can prevent further escalation of climate impacts” was “real zero” and not “net zero”.

The “real zero pledge” was organised by the Lethal Humidity Global Council, a group of scientists, health experts and policymakers.


Related: ‘Crunch time for real’: UN says time for climate delays has run out

Among the signatories are Prof Michael Mann, of the University of Pennsylvania; Prof Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; and Bill Hare, founder of Climate Analytics and a member of a UN expert group that has warned about the overuse of carbon offsets.

“We should be focused on real reductions in emissions, rather than engaging in a counting game,” Hare said.

The pledge reflects growing concerns that large amounts of carbon offsets generated from forest-related projects or, in Australia, from avoided land clearing, and then traded, may not have actually reduced emissions.

The Lethal Humidity Global Council is a group focused on the threat of rising temperatures that, when combined with high humidity, can threaten human health.

Prof Katrin Meissner, director of the Climate Change Research Centre at the University of New South Wales and a signatory, said many offset programs focused on growing trees or allowing areas to regrow.

But she said these could not lock carbon away forever because when the trees die, such as in droughts or wildfires, they rereleased the carbon back into the atmosphere.

“A reliance on carbon offsets without the needed emission reductions is dangerous and detrimental,” she said.

“To keep global warming within the guardrails of the Paris agreement, the timeframe is now so tight that there is no space for companies to use offsetting to continue high-carbon activities. We need to turn the fossil fuel taps off, all of them.”

Prof Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, another signatory and climate scientist at Australian National University, said: “In many ways ‘net zero’ is a Band-Aid solution because it doesn’t fix the problem at the source.”

Russell Reichelt, a veteran public servant and Australian ambassador on sustainable oceans, said many offsets relied on the ability of the land and ocean to act as a sink for greenhouse gas emissions.

But he was concerned that these natural sinks, such as forests and oceans, were already struggling to absorb the extra CO2 humans were emitting.

Reichelt was a member of Australia’s Climate Change Authority which last year said the country’s official carbon credit system was helping to “smooth the transition to net zero”.

The council organising the pledge is convened by the Minderoo Foundation, co-founded by iron ore mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, who has described net zero as a “fantasy” and urged companies to focus on ending their use of fossil fuels instead.

Big Tech investments reignite debate over advanced nuclear reactors

Akiko Fujita · Host
Sun 27 October 2024 

Small modular reactors (SMRs) have long held the promise of cheaper, more efficient nuclear energy. Their smaller, standardized designs were expected to usher in a new era for an industry historically plagued by cost overruns and safety concerns.

But as major tech firms, including Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN), turn to advanced technologies in hopes of powering their AI ambitions with a low carbon footprint, skeptics are raising questions about their viability, largely because no commercial SMR has been built in the US yet.


Despite the talk of a simplified process, there are only three SMRs operational worldwide — two in Russia and one in China.

"Nobody knows how long they’re going to take to build," said David Schlissel, an analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis who has been critical of SMRs. "Nobody knows how expensive they’re going to be to build. We don't know how effective they will be in addressing climate change because it may take them 10 to 15 years to build them."

The core module of the ACP100 multi-purpose, small modular pressurized water reactor (PWR), also referred to as the Linglong One, is transferred to a ship on July 14, 2023, in Dalian, Liaoning Province of China.

 (Liu Xuan/VCG via Getty Images) 

Nuclear power has received renewed interest because of the global push to move away from fossil fuels to reduce harmful emissions driving climate change. Although wind and solar power offer prevalent, low-cost energy options, nuclear remains an attractive clean alternative, in large part because it can run 24/7 in any season and has a smaller footprint.

SMRs have offered the most promise. Unlike traditional nuclear plants that have been costly and time-consuming, modular reactors are one-third the size, with a power capacity of 300 megawatts or less. The nuclear industry has touted their efficiency and cost savings, as SMRs are built in factories and assembled on-site.

"It reduces the risk associated with the project," said Jacopo Buongiorno, a professor of nuclear engineering at MIT. "For an investor, ... you may recover your investment quicker and with fewer uncertainties in terms of project execution."
'The technology is evolving'

Yet, in many ways, the hurdles facing this new generation of reactors have mirrored the old. Advanced reactor designs have taken longer than projected. Those delays have added to cost overruns.

Oregon-based NuScale (SMR) became the first company to get approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build SMRs in 2022, but the company canceled plans to deploy six reactors in Idaho last year. The announcement came after costs for the project, scheduled for completion in 2030, ballooned from $5 billion to $9 billion.


Buongiorno said the buildout has been complicated by the array of technologies tested within individual projects. While all SMRs utilize uranium as fuel, its form and application within reactors differ depending on the company and its technology. That’s dramatically different from existing nuclear power plants, which all use uranium dioxide, he said.


“The technology is evolving. We expect the performance of these reactors to be different. But the big question marks are ... what's going to be the reliability? How reliable this technology is going to be, given that we don't have a lot of experience?” Buongiorno said. “Equally, if not more important, what's going to be the cost?”
AI a 'game changer'

X-energy CEO Clay Sell said demand has been part of the problem until now.

Artificial intelligence has changed that calculation, largely because of the energy needs associated with powering data centers that drive AI models, Sell said. Goldman Sachs estimates the advanced technology will contribute to a 160% increase in data center power demand by 2030.

Earlier this month, Amazon announced a $500 million investment in the development of SMRs, including funding for X-energy. That funding will help X-energy complete the design of its standard plant and construct the first facility that will manufacture the fuel used in those plants, Sell said, calling the investment a “game changer.”


“A significant portion of the increased electricity demand in the United States for the next 25 years is going to come from AI," Sell said. "It could be as high as 10%, 20%.”

Kairos Power CEO Mike Laufer, who inked a purchase agreement deal with Google, said his company is still in the process of pursuing non-nuclear demonstrations of the technology. Any “cost certainty” would hinge on a successful demonstration and the company’s ability to manufacture in-house, he said.

“[Cost certainty] has been very elusive in this space,” he said.

Aerial view of the construction site of Linglong-1 (ACP-100), the world's first onshore commercial small modular reactor (SMR), on July 4, 2024, in Changjiang Li Autonomous County, Hainan Province of China. 

(Wang Jian/VCG via Getty Images) · 

There are other challenges beyond cost, including a lengthy regulatory approval process and what to do with all of the nuclear waste.

While nuclear companies maintaining a smaller footprint will mean less waste, a study by Stanford University found that SMRs would increase the volume of nuclear waste “by factors of 2 to 30.”

Schlissel argues that all of the money spent on small reactors should instead go to wind and solar power and battery storage, which are proven to reduce carbon emissions and cost less to produce.

Buongiorno countered that nuclear reactors have a longer shelf life. While the upfront costs may be higher, reactors have a lifespan of 60 to 100 years, he said. With the smaller footprint, SMRs can also be built closer to data centers, minimizing infrastructure costs, he added.

The Department of Energy says nuclear energy is critical to transitioning the country away from fossil fuels. The agency has set aside $900 million in funding for the development of SMRs.

The Energy Department estimates the US will need approximately 700-900 GW of additional clean, firm power generation capacity to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, adding that nuclear energy already provides nearly half of carbon-free electricity in the country.

Paris Games Week kicks off amid industry turmoil marked by layoffs

RFI
Wed 23 October 2024 

The Paris Games Week is taking place from 23 to 27 October, 2024 at Porte de Versailles.

The Paris Games Week, France's major gaming event, opens its doors on Wednesday at a time of crisis for the industry which is marked by layoffs and restructuring.

After enjoying a surge during the COVID years, the video game sector has faced declining investments and fierce competition over the past two years, despite overall sales holding steady.

Since the beginning of 2024, over 13,000 employees worldwide have lost their jobs, according to Game Industry Layoffs.

"The industry has a bit of a hangover," says Charles-Louis Planade, an analyst at Midcap Partners, noting a retreat by many publishers to focus on their most popular franchises.

New releases are struggling to compete with juggernauts like "Fortnite" and "GTA V Online."

While the French market saw a rebound in 2023, surpassing six billion euros in revenue, the challenges remain.

Gaming giant Ubisoft has faced underwhelming releases and postponed the much-anticipated "Assassin's Creed Shadows" to February.

Also, a strike mobilised a quarter of its 4,000 employees in France on Tuesday, according to union reports.

France's Ubisoft faces three day strike as unions protest over remote work decision

Meanwhile, the studio Don’t Nod announced plans to lay off 69 employees - over 20 percent of its workforce - as part of a reorganisation effort.

Attendees will even find a Tesla Cybertruck on display in one of the three halls.

(with AFP)

Greta Thunberg visits Turkey radio station closed over Armenia genocide row

Fulya OZERKAN
Fri 25 October 2024 

Acik Radyo fell silent earlier this month after Turkey's broadcasting watchdog suspended its licence (Ozan KOSE) (Ozan KOSE/AFP/AFP)

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday visited Istanbul's Acik Radyo, whose broadcasts were silenced earlier this month by Turkish authorities after a guest spoke on air about the "Armenian genocide", the station said.

"Greta supports Acik Radyo," it wrote on X, posting a video of the 21-year-old activist expressing support for the broadcaster whose name means "open radio".

"Open Radio should stay open! I support Acik Radyo. It is more important than ever that we have honest media platforms that tell the truth about the climate crisis and human rights," Thunberg said.

Turkey's broadcasting watchdog RTUK suspended Acik Radyo for five days in May on grounds of allegedly inciting hatred, then withdrew its licence in July, although it continued broadcasting until mid-October.

The sanctions came after an April broadcast in which a guest called the 1915 killings of Armenians in the final days of the Ottoman Empire-era "genocide".

Many historians agree with the term but it has been fiercely disputed by successive Turkish governments.

Co-founded some 30 years ago by prominent Turkish environmental activist Omer Madra, Acik Radyo's broadcasts addressed human rights, minority rights and ecological issues.

Its last broadcast was on October 16, but it has vowed to appeal the ban and return to the airwaves.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the closure, saying the station "embodied pluralist information, respect for cultural and political minorities, as well as the fight for the climate and ecological awareness".

Armenia says Ottoman forces massacred and deported more than 1.5 million Armenians during World War I between 1915 and 1917, with some 30 countries recognising the killings as genocide.

Turkey rejects the charge although it acknowledges that up to 500,000 Armenians were killed in ethnic fighting, massacres or starvation during mass deportations from eastern Anatolia.

hmw/sbk

NAKBA 2.0

‘Israel is trying to erase our presence’: Palestinians say ‘generals’ plan’ to clear north Gaza is under way

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem
Fri 25 October 2024 

Displaced Palestinians flee amid an Israeli military operation in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip.Photograph: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters


Hospitals shelled, shelters set alight, men and boys separated from their families and taken away in military vehicles; a year into Israel-Hamas war, civilians clinging on in northern Gaza say the situation is worse than it has ever been.

About 400,000 people have remained in Gaza City and surrounding towns since Israel cut the area off from the rest of the territory and issued evacuation orders. Some are unwilling to leave home, afraid they will never be allowed to return; others decided to stay put for the sake of elderly or disabled family members. Civilians have reported that the routes to the relative safety of the south are unsafe, citing sniper fire and detention by Israeli forces.

Now, many believe Israel is trying to finish the job with a new aerial and ground offensive on the area that has killed at least 800 people since it began on 6 October. Tightening the siege and cutting off aid in order to force the remaining population to flee is outlined in a proposal known as “the generals’ plan”, presented to Benjamin Netanyahu’s government last month. Experts say such tactics amount to war crimes.


First responders have paused operations in northern Gaza altogether after crews were injured in airstrikes or detained by the military and their last fire engine was destroyed by tank shelling. The three struggling hospitals in the area say medical equipment is in such short supply that they are having to decide which patients they can help and which they have to let die. A near total blockade on aid deliveries mean that food and water are running dangerously low.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said on X this week: “People suffering under the ongoing Israeli siege in north Gaza are rapidly exhausting all available means for their survival.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli government deny carrying out a deliberate “surrender or starve” campaign and say the new offensive is necessary to stop Hamas fighters regrouping. But the generals’ plan, so called because it was put together by a group of retired military leaders, forms a clear blueprint.

Sawsan Zaher, a Haifa-based Palestinian human rights lawyer, said: “It doesn’t matter if Israel says it is doing this or not, if it calls it by a different name or not. What matters in international law is what is happening on the ground, and we can clearly see Israel is trying to erase the Palestinian presence in north Gaza.”

The stated aim of the generals’ plan is to avoid a long war of attrition by putting as much pressure as possible on Hamas, forcing the group’s surrender and the return of 100 hostages seized on 7 October 2023 and still held captive.Interactive

The plan suggests giving Palestinians in northern Gaza an ultimatum to leave and then declaring the area a closed military zone. Those who remain would be considered combatants and therefore legitimate targets, it says. Water, food, fuel and medical supplies would be completely cut.

After Hamas’s surrender, the Gaza Strip would be permanently divided into two, with Israel in indefinite control in the north until a new civilian Palestinian administration could take over.

Human rights groups have condemned the plan, saying it breaches international prohibitions on the use of food as a weapon and forcible transfers. Whether Israel is intentionally limiting the entry of food to Gaza is already a major plank of the genocide case against it at the international court of justice. Israel says humanitarian agencies are to blame for slow deliveries and Hamas is siphoning off aid.

But with internationally mediated ceasefire and hostage release deal talks deadlocked since July, and Israel fighting a new war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, observers say it appears Israel may be experimenting with a change in strategy in Gaza.

“The bright lights aren’t on Gaza any more, even though the Israeli government is making it very clear what they plan to do. The reason why is simple: because they can. The US, the UN, the EU; who is going to stop them?” said Diana Buttu, a lawyer and former Palestinian peace negotiator.

Despite an expected revival of ceasefire talks next week, Israel is believed to be considering only a brief 12-day truce. Senior Israeli defence officials recently told the Israeli daily Haaretz that the government’s wider aim was now annexing large parts of the Palestinian territory.Interactive

The generals’ plan, or a version of it, would help towards that goal, although Gen Giora Eiland, the main author, told the Guardian that he opposed Israeli resettlement of the Gaza Strip. Siege was a valid tactic under international humanitarian law, he said, and the plan should be viewed as an alternative if a diplomatic solution to end the war could not be reached.

“The reason we had a successful hostage deal in November is because two trucks of aid were going to Gaza a day and Hamas was desperate,” he said. “The idea that there is some clean way to fight and not kill civilians in modern war is naive … Many more Palestinians and many more Israelis will die if the war is not brought to an end as soon as possible.”

Michael Milstein, a Hamas expert and head of the Palestinian studies forum at Tel Aviv University, said he believed the generals’ plan would not further Israel’s two stated military goals in Gaza – the defeat of Hamas and the return of the hostages.

“After a year of fighting and even with [Yahya] Sinwar gone we should realise by now that even if we occupy the whole Strip, Hamas will not stop fighting,” he said, referring to the recent killing of the group’s leader in Rafah.

“There are no good options for Israel in Gaza, but I worry this one will do even more damage to Israel’s image. Many people in Israel still do not understand that the rest of the world does not see what is happening in north Gaza as a just war. That in itself is a big strategic problem.”

Netanyahu interrupted by screaming Oct 7 victims’ families

Jessica Abrahams
Sun 27 October 2024 

A man heckles Netanyahu during his speech - Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool Photo via AP

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was heckled by bereaved families as he spoke at a memorial ceremony for the civilian victims of the October 7 massacre today.

Netanyahu stood motionless at the lectern as audience members shouted, interrupting his speech for more than a minute during a live broadcast.

Relatives of some of the victims cried out “Shame on you!” before being removed from the event. The Israeli Prime Minister has been under pressure over his failure to prevent the attack or to secure the return of the hostages.

The memorial marked the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 last year, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 kidnapped. Israel’s top political and security officials attended the event in Jerusalem, laying wreaths and giving speeches.

Gaza ministry accuses Israel of storming hospital, reports two children killed

AFP
Fri 25 October 2024 

Women and children wait for medical attention at Kamal Adwan Hospital, which Gaza's health ministry said was raided by Israeli forces (-) (-/AFP/AFP)


The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza accused Israeli forces Friday of storming the last functioning hospital in the territory's north in a raid it said left two children dead, while the military told AFP it was unaware of live fire or strikes in the area.

The Israeli military said its forces were operating around Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza, where it launched a major operation earlier this month.

The operation sparked fresh concerns about the war's civilian toll, with UN human rights chief Volker Turk saying the conflict's "darkest moment" was unfolding in northern Gaza.

"Two children have died in the intensive care unit after the hospital's generators failed and the oxygen station was targeted," the health ministry said in a statement.

Israeli forces "are searching the hospital and firing within different departments, increasing the panic and anxiety", it added.

The Israeli army told AFP it was "not aware of live fire and strikes in the area of the hospital".

The World Health Organization earlier said it had lost contact with staff at the hospital on Friday morning.

"This development is deeply disturbing given the number of patients being served and people sheltering there," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Gaza's health ministry earlier said Israel's forces "stormed" the hospital, "detaining hundreds of patients, medical staff and some displaced individuals from neighbouring areas who sought refuge".

Israel said it had allowed the transfer of 23 patients out of the hospital on Thursday night, which was confirmed by the WHO.

Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the Palestinian territories, said he witnessed "mayhem and chaos" at the hospital on Thursday.

At a checkpoint close to the hospital, the visiting WHO team saw "thousands of women and children leaving that area, walking, limping with their few belongings" towards Gaza City, he added.

- 'Emptying area of Palestinians' -

The UN human rights chief said that already "more than 150,000 people are reportedly dead, wounded or missing in Gaza" since the war broke out just over a year ago.

That number could "rise dramatically", he said, warning that Israel's actions in northern Gaza "risk emptying the area of all Palestinians".

The Israeli military says the goal of the assault is to destroy the operational capabilities it says Hamas is trying to rebuild in the north.

Israel has accused Hamas of operating from hospitals, schools and other civilian facilities, a charge the militant group denies.

Also in northern Gaza on Friday, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli drone strikes killed 12 people waiting to receive aid near the Al-Shati refugee camp.

There was no immediate comment from the military.

In the south Gaza city of Khan Yunis, nine children were among 14 people killed in an Israeli strike that hit the Fara family home, the civil defence agency's Mahmud Bassal said.

"The rocket fell next to us, and we were buried under the rubble," Umm al-Ameer al-Fara, who survived the first strike, told AFP.

"My children and sister were killed."

A separate strike in Khan Yunis killed six people, Bassal said.

The Israeli military said "a number of terrorists were eliminated" in south Gaza.

- Three journalists killed -

Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack which triggered the Gaza war resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 42,847 people, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

Last month, after nearly a year of rocket fire by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, Israel expanded its focus to Lebanon in a bid to secure its northern border.

At least 1,580 people have been killed in Lebanon since all-out war erupted on September 23, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry figures.

The Israeli military has announced the deaths of 32 soldiers since it began ground operations in Lebanon late last month.

On Friday, Lebanon accused Israel of a "deliberate" attack that killed three journalists.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military maintained it had targeted Hezbollah militants and said that "the incident is under review".

Pro-Iran Lebanese television channel Al Mayadeen said cameraman Ghassan Najjar and broadcast engineer Mohammad Reda were killed in the strike on a journalists' residence in the southern town of Hasbaya.

Another TV outlet, Al-Manar, run by Hezbollah, said video journalist Wissam Qassem was also killed in the strike on a bungalow located in a complex that several media organisations covering the war had rented out.

- Border crossing hit -

Journalists from other media organisations were sleeping nearby when the strike hit, in an area outside Hezbollah's traditional strongholds.

"I woke up to the whistling sound of a missile and found my door burst open... I thought there was a fire," Sky News Arabia correspondent Darine El Helwe told AFP.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the "deliberate" attack was among the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy".

Later on Friday, Lebanese state media said Israeli aircraft carried out at least eight strikes on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

AFPTV footage showed smoke rising from the area after Israel's army issued an evacuation call.

In northern Israel meanwhile, falling shrapnel from rockets fired by Hezbollah killed two people in the Arab town of Majd al-Krum, a hospital and the Israeli army said.

Hezbollah had earlier said it sent "a large rocket salvo" targeting a nearby city.

The group also said it hit three Israeli tanks in clashes in two villages near the border.

The Israeli military confirmed it struck a northern border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, accusing Hezbollah of moving weapons through it.

The UN refugee agency warned that the crossing had been the main escape route for people trying to flee the conflict in Lebanon.

bur/dl/ami/kir/rlp/tym


RAF’s Gaza photos could be used against Israel in war crimes court

Alexander Butler
Sat 26 October 2024 

The Shadow R1 spyplane is currently operating in the Middle East (Alamy /Creative Commons)

Intelligence gathered by RAF spy planes flying over Gaza could be used as evidence against Israel in The Hague, it is understood.

Surveillance aircraft have carried out almost daily missions over the 25-mile-long Gaza Strip to try to help the Israelis find hostages captured by Hamas on 7 October.

But any video or images the aircraft obtained of suspected war crimes committed by either Israel or Hamas could be handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“If the ICC came to us and said, we think there has been a war crime in this area and do you have any footage, would the UK government offer that? Yes, absolutely,” a military source told The Times.

An ICC prosecutor sought arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his defence minister Yoav Gallant and several Hamas leaders in May - but these have not yet been approved by the court’s judges.

An International Criminal Court prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in May, as well as senior Hamas leaders (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Hamas leaders Mohamed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar - for whom arrest warrants were sought - have all been killed by the Israeli military in recent weeks.

It is not clear what aircraft are flying over Gaza or how many, but the Shadow R1, equipped with high-definition electro-optical and electronic sensors to gather data, is currently operating in the region.

The Shadow is flown by 14 Squadron, based at RAF Waddington, and its motto is written in Arabic. A quote taken from the Quran, it says: “I spread my wings and keep my promise.”

Between October 2023 and June 2024, the Met Police’s counter-terrorism unit received 158 reports of war crimes relating to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip earlier this month (AP)

Recent footage showed a Palestinian teenager being burned alive while attached to an IV drip following an Israeli airstrike on a hospital complex.

Aid workers in Gaza have described daily seeing burned toddlers screaming in pain because there are not enough painkillers and children with severed limbs and their brains exposed after being hit in bombings.

The RAF was said to have been flying over Gaza on the day that Israel killed seven international aid workers who were in a World Central Kitchen convoy.

Those killed on April 1 included three British military veterans, John Chapman, James Kirby and James Henderson.

Rare Sahara floods bring Morocco's dried-up south back to life

Hicham RAFIH
Sat 26 October 2024

A local man poses for a picture at Yasmina Lake, a seasonal lake in the village of Merzouga in the Sahara desert in southeastern Morocco (-) (-/AFP/AFP)


In Morocco's southeastern desert, a rare downpour has brought lakes and ponds back to life, with locals -- and tourists -- hailing it as a gift from the heavens.

In Merzouga, an attractive tourist town some 600 kilometres (370 miles) southeast of the capital Rabat, the once-parched golden dunes are now dotted with replenished ponds and lakes.

"We're incredibly happy about the recent rains," said Youssef Ait Chiga, a local tour guide leading a group of German tourists to Yasmina Lake nestled amidst Merzouga's dunes.


Khalid Skandouli, another tour guide, said the rain has drawn even more visitors to the tourist area, now particularly eager to witness this odd transformation.

With him, Laetitia Chevallier, a French tourist and regular visitor to the region, said the rainfall has proved a "blessing from the sky".

"The desert became green again, the animals have food again, and the plants and palm trees came back to life," she said.

Locals told AFP the basin had been barren for nearly 20 years.

Last year was Morocco's driest in 80 years, with a 48 percent drop in rainfall, according to an October report from the General Directorate of Meteorology (DGM).

But in September, torrential rains triggered floods in southern parts of Morocco, killing at least 28 people, according to authorities.

The rare heavy rains come as the North African kingdom grapples with its worst drought in nearly 40 years, threatening its economically crucial agriculture sector.

Neighbouring Algeria saw similar rain and flooding in early September, killing six people.

North African countries currently rank among the world's most water-stressed, according to the World Resources Institute, a non-profit research organisation.

The kingdom's meteorological agency described the recent massive rainfall as "exceptional".

It attributed it to an unusual shift of the intertropical convergence zone -- the equatorial region where winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet, causing thunderstorms and heavy rainfall.

- 'Climate change' -

"Everything suggests that this is a sign of climate change," Fatima Driouech, a Moroccan climate scientist, told AFP. "But it's too early to say definitively without thorough studies."

Driouech emphasised the importance of further research to attribute this event to broader climate trends.

Experts say climate change is making extreme weather events, such as storms and droughts, more frequent and intense.

In Morocco's south, the rains have helped partially fill some reservoirs and replenish groundwater aquifers.

But for those levels to significantly rise, experts say the rains would need to continue over a longer period of time.

The rest of the country is still grappling with drought, now in its sixth consecutive year, jeopardising the agricultural sector that employs over a third of Morocco's workforce.

Jean Marc Berhocoirigoin, a 68-year-old French tourist, said he was surprised to find Yasmina Lake replenished.

"I felt like a kid on Christmas morning," he said. "I hadn't seen these views for 15 years."

Water has also returned to other desert areas such as Erg Znaigui, about 40 kilometres south of Merzouga, AFP reporters saw.

While the rains have breathed life into Morocco's arid southeast, Driouech warns that "a single extreme event can't bring lasting change".

But last week, Morocco's meteorological agency said such downpours could become increasingly frequent, "driven partly by climate change as the intertropical convergence zone shifts further north".

vid-kao/isb/bou/jsa

Lloyds suffers £3bn hit after car finance court ruling

Lloyds is currently embroiled in a Financial Conduct Authority investigation

 - Andy Rain/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Chris Price
Fri 25 October 2024 

A landmark court ruling about the historic “mis-selling” of motor finance loans has wiped billions off Lloyds Bank amid fears about the impact on the banking sector.

Shares in the high street lender dropped by 7.3pc on Friday, finishing the day at the biggest faller in the FTSE 100, after the Court of Appeal ruled that motor finance brokers must fully inform customers about commission received from arranging car loans.


Lloyds and other lenders are currently embroiled in a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigation into whether customers were aware of discretionary fee arrangements, where dealerships would receive higher commission if they sold loans to customers at higher interest rates.

The City watchdog is concerned that this practice may have seen drivers mis-sold loans that were not in their best interests.

Although the ruling is not directly tied to the FCA review, the outcome wiped more than £3bn off Lloyds’ amid concerns that the UK banking industry could be on the hook for billions of pounds in customer compensation.

Gary Greenwood, a bank analyst at Shore Capital, said: “In isolation, the financial implications of this ruling are not expected to be material, but the decision could have broader ramifications for future claims against the company and, indeed, other operators with exposure to this space, most notably Lloyds Banking Group”.


Lloyds has already made a £450m provision in its accounts to cover the costs of the FCA review but the Court decision on Friday spooked investors concerned about the impact on Lloyds.

The £38bn lender is one of Britain’s largest car finance providers through its Black Horse division.

The Court of Appeal decision also dented the market value of Close Brothers, which was one of the three motor finance lenders defending the Court of Appeal challenge.

Its share price fell 24.5pc on Friday, wiping £135m off its market cap

The Court of Appeal judges were asked to consider claims brought by customers who complained they were overcharged when buying cars because they did not consent to the commission payments.

They ruled it was unlawful for banks to pay a commission to motor dealers without the customers’ knowledge.

The Court of Appeal found that motor dealers arranging car loans must disclose all facts to borrowing customers before they can consent to the deal.

“The consumers were very poorly served by the brokers and the lenders alike,” the judges concluded.


Responding to the ruling, Close Brothers said: “The financial impact of the Hopcraft case in isolation is not material to the group.”


However, it warned that the judgement could set a precedent for similar legal mis-selling claims which could result in “significant liabilities” for the bank.

The 146-year old company said it intends to appeal the ruling to the UK Supreme Court.

The FTSE 250 lender said that it will be “temporarily pausing” the writing of new motor finance business while it reviews and implements any changes to documentation and processes in light of the case.

The FCA in January announced that it would review historical commission arrangements between car dealers and banks in the past decade.

The ruling is expected to influence whether the City watchdog introduces a redress scheme.

What we know about Labour's plans for a four-day working week

The government wants people to be able to 'compress' their working week, if they wish. Yahoo News UK explains what that means.

NOT A REAL REDUCTION IN HOURS WORKED

James Cheng-Morris and Jasmine Andersson
Updated Thu 24 October 2024

THE CONVERSATION

Sir Keir Starmer's government is looking to introduce 'compressed' four-day weeks for those who want it. (PA)


Civil servants in a second government department have called for the introduction of a four-day working week.

Staff from housing secretary Angela Rayner's department have started a petition calling on managers to allow staff to work a 32-hour week. They have joined fellow Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to campaign for the change.

While the government said it supports flexible working, it has stopped short of backing a four-day working week internally.


Here's what you need to know about the four-day working week, and what it means for staff across the UK.
Is the UK going to have a four-day work week?

Not officially, the Department for Business and Trade has said. "We have no plans to impose a four-day working week on employers or employees," a spokesperson said earlier this year.

However, a four-day week could come in the form of “compressed hours”, which The Telegraph reported may feature in a new law which would legally oblige companies to offer flexible working from day one, except in jobs where it is “not reasonably feasible”.

The Department for Business and Trade said in August it will announce details about its approach within the next 100 days.
What are compressed hours?

The government has denied it will force businesses to allow staff to work a four-day week on the same terms.

However, it said it supports flexible working which would enable workers to “compress” their current hours into four days, which means they would work longer shifts on those days.

Speaking on LBC earlier this year, Labour's minister for skills Baroness Jacqui Smith set out what this could look like: “The four-day week that I know is on the front of quite a lot of newspapers today, what we’re actually talking about there is the type of flexible working that enables you to use compressed hours.

Baroness Smith has previously said that instead of working eight hours a day for five days, people work 10 hours a day for four days. (Getty Images)

“So perhaps instead of working eight hours a day for five days, you work 10 hours a day for four days.

“You’re still doing the same amount of work, but perhaps you’re doing it in a way that enables you, for example, to need less childcare, to spend more time with your family, to do other things, that encourages more people into the workplace.”

Smith added: “We think that flexible working is actually good for productivity.”
What are the benefits of a four-day work week?

Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, said allowing workers to compress their hours into four working days would be a welcome move.

But the group ultimately wants the government to go a step further, with people employed on the same pay for four days' work (32 hours) as they currently get for five days (40 hours).

Ryle said: "These proposals would only allow workers to compress their working hours rather than reduce them, which we have found is key for improving work-life balance and also maintaining productivity.

“Compressing the same amount of hours into four days rather than five can be an important first step on the road to a true four-day week, but reducing overall working hours is crucial.”


As well as better work-life balance, the 4 Day Week Campaign lists benefits to employees such as help with the cost of living (with less childcare and commuting costs), more rest and leisure time, and better "life admin" capabilities (shopping, cleaning, sorting finances).

For employers, it says "trials and real-world examples show that employers who move to a four-day week increase productivity and reduce costs", citing a 2021 Henley Business School study which estimated UK businesses saved a combined £104bn a year.

Members of the PCS union in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have started a petition calling on managers to allow staff to work 80% of their hours for 100% of their pay.

PCS members at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are already campaigning for a four-day week.

On the other hand, some business groups have called for caution over Labour's plans for compressed hours.

Ben Willmott, head of public policy for the CIPD, the professional body for human resources, said: "Flexible working has to work for both the business and workers if it’s to be sustainable, and this needs to be recognised in any changes to regulation."

The Conservatives have claimed businesses are “petrified” about Labour’s plans, which the party said would "make doing business more expensive".
Which countries have a four-day work week?

According to the 4 Day Week job listings website, no country has fully adopted the four-day week, though many are experimenting with the idea.

However, in 2022 Belgium introduced the right to a four-day week based on compressed hours, which is what the UK is now proposing.

Read more from Euronews about the measures being adopted by various European countries.
What happened in the four-day working week trial earlier this year?

Most of the UK companies that took part in the world’s biggest ever four-day working week trial have made the policy permanent, research showed earlier this year.

Of the 61 organisations that took part in a six-month UK pilot in 2022, 54 (89%) were still operating the policy a year later, and 31 (51%) made the change permanent.

Read more from The Guardian here in which Paul Oliver, chief operating officer at Citizens Advice Gateshead, said a four-day week had helped his employees and improved retention. “We wanted to see a way to improve staff conditions so they would be better rested and could give more to work,” he added
'A four-day week can work – if staff and employers can deal with the challenges'

Prof Miriam Marra, of Henley Business School, who was part of the 2021 study mentioned above, wrote last month: "We need to consider possible risks in this approach. For example, is it a reason for employers not to offer adequate or higher pay in the middle of a cost of living crisis? Or is it a reason for employees to work multiple jobs? While the latter is an individual choice, it should not be caused by the former.

"The four-day working week, like other flexible-work solutions, should be offered by employers who want to recruit talented and motivated employees, invest in them, and offer them time and opportunities to upskill. All of this will help staff to be more productive in their jobs."

Read more from The Conversation here.

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Government advisers call for 81% cut in UK emissions by 2035

Rebecca Speare-Cole, 

PA sustainability reporter
Fri 25 October 2024

UK greenhouse gas emissions should be cut by at least 81% by 2035 as part of global efforts to tackle climate change, Government advisers have said.

The Government is preparing to unveil plans for cutting emissions by 2035, under the global Paris Agreement which commits countries to take action on curbing temperature rises to prevent the worst impacts of warming.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has recommended the UK commit to cutting emissions by at least 81% on 1990 levels by the middle of the 2030s, under its Paris action plan – known as a “nationally determined contribution” or NDC.


In a letter to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the independent advisory committee said the target is “ambitious, deliverable and consistent” with the emission reductions required for the country to meet its own legally binding cap on the amount of carbon it can emit between 2033 to 2037.

“It is informed by the latest science, technological developments, and the UK’s national circumstances,” it read.

Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband asked the committee for guidance (Ben Whitley/PA)

It comes after Mr Miliband asked the committee earlier this year for guidance on setting the UK’s next NDC emissions target as the Cop29 summit approaches in Azerbaijan in November.

Governments are legally bound to submit new NDCs every five years, outlining how they plan to cut emissions over the next decade.

Countries are due to table their new proposals for 2025 to 2035 ahead of Cop30 in Brazil next December.

In 2020, the then-Conservative government set a goal of 68% emission cuts by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, which was in line with the CCC’s advice at the time.

But the committee recently warned that the UK is off track to meet its 2030 climate targets, with only around one third of the emissions reductions required covered by credible plans – mostly in the electricity supply and surface transport sectors.

In its letter to the Energy Secretary, it said: “Setting a target is not enough. The UK must back up its international commitments through actions here at home.

“We welcome the actions already taken by the Government on renewable electricity, energy efficiency in rented homes, and carbon capture and storage.

“We need to see further urgent action to speed up deployment of low-carbon solutions such as electric vehicles, heat pumps and tree planting.”

The Paris Agreement commits countries to keeping temperature rises “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels, and pursuing efforts to limit them to 1.5C, seen as the threshold beyond which the worst impacts of climate change will be felt.

To meet the 1.5C target, the world’s carbon emissions must fall to net zero by 2050, with significant cuts in pollution and any remaining emissions offset by planting trees or using technology to capture carbon.

Professor Piers Forster said: “With climate damages already felt around the world, targeting an 81% emissions reduction by 2035 sets the right level of ambition.

“Our analysis shows this can be achieved in a way that benefits jobs and the economy, provided we hit the country’s 2030 target – set in line with the CCC’s advice in 2020.

“The technologies needed to achieve it are available, at a competitive price, today.”

He added: “We need to see the Government’s commitment to climate reflected in the upcoming Budget.

“I have no doubt that the United Kingdom can once again be a leader on the international stage – in both deeds and words.”

Environmental groups have suggested the Government go further than the CCC recommendations, including calls for UK plans to include international aviation and shipping (IAS) emissions, which can be excluded in line with the UN convention.

Dr Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, said: “The Climate Change Committee has given ministers a useful benchmark for climate action but they may want to aim higher to show true global leadership and take full responsibility for the UK’s historic role as a major carbon polluter.

“Actions speak louder than words, and true leadership means the government must also set out tangible plans to deliver on its 2035 target.”

Isabella O’Dowd, WWF’s head of climate policy said: “We urge the UK government to show global leadership by going further and adopt climate targets for international aviation and shipping.

“Acting now will revitalise the UK economy, increase our energy security and support a just transition for all sectors.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “Britain is back in the business of climate leadership because the only way to protect current generations in the UK is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, and the only way to protect our children and future generations is by leading global climate action.

“We are grateful to the Climate Change Committee for this expert advice, which we will consider carefully before we announce an ambitious Nationally Determined Contribution target at COP29 to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.”




Campaigners call for steeper cuts to UK greenhouse gas emissions

Fiona Harvey 

Environment editor
Fri 25 October 2024 

Campaigners want the government to go further than the Climate Change Committee’s recommendations in order to spur innovation and demonstrate global leadership.

Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian


Climate campaigners have urged ministers to make steeper cuts in the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions after the government’s statutory adviser on the climate gave its verdict on new targets.

The Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, has written to Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, to advise cuts of 81% in the UK’s emissions, compared with 1990 levels, by 2035, if emissions from aviation and shipping are excluded.

Miliband now faces the choice of whether to follow the committee’s advice in setting the UK’s new international commitment under the Paris agreement at a forthcoming UN climate summit.

A cut of 81% as an international target would be broadly in line with the UK’s existing domestic carbon budgets for the 2030s, which are also set with advice from the CCC and are intended to deliver net zero emissions by 2050.

But campaigners urged the government to go further in order to demonstrate global leadership and spur innovation and a low-carbon economy. Mike Childs, the head of policy at Friends of the Earth, said: “With climate change spiralling dangerously out of control, the recommended 81% cut should be seen as the very minimum carbon reduction target the UK government should commit to. Ramping up ambition to make even deeper cuts in practice would show real leadership in global efforts to avert the worst of climate breakdown.”

Catherine Pettengell, the executive director of Climate Action Network UK, said: “[This] should be the floor, not the ceiling, of the UK’s ambition and action. A more ambitious and fair target could be achieved if the UK brings its full economic and political will to the table.”

Meeting the new target will be a stretch. The UK is far away from meeting the international target in place of a 68% reductions in emissions by 2030, which was set by Boris Johnson before the UK hosted the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in 2021, according to analysis by Friends of the Earth.

Doug Parr, the policy director at Greenpeace UK, said: “True leadership means the government must also set out tangible plans to deliver on its 2035 target.” He called for the fulfilment of Labour’s promise to end new oil and gas licences, at least triple renewables and double energy efficiency rates by 2030, and support workers to transition away from polluting industries.

Another key question for Miliband, in drawing up the UK’s international target – known as a nationally determined contribution, or NDC, under the Paris agreement – is how to account for emissions from international aviation and shipping to and from the UK.

These emissions are now included in the UK’s domestic carbon budgets, but were not explicitly in the 2015 Paris agreement, and previous international pacts, because of the difficulty of apportioning the emissions to particular countries. Some campaigners argue that aviation and shipping are implicitly covered by the Paris agreement, but there is disagreement over this and most countries exclude them from their NDCs.

Jonathan Hood, the UK sustainable shipping manager at the Transport & Environment campaigning group, said they should be included. “Passing responsibility for shipping emissions to the ineffective International Maritime Organisation and excluding them from the NDC makes no sense – particularly when the UK has already accepted legal responsibility for international shipping and aviation emissions by including them in the sixth carbon budget,” he said.

If aviation and shipping are included, in effect the headline target for an NDC would be likely to equate to a cut of about 78% by 2035, in line with the UK’s carbon budgets.

New NDCs are not due to be submitted to the UN until next February, but Keir Starmer promised that the UK’s would be unveiled early, at the forthcoming Cop29 UN climate summit, taking place in Azerbaijan from 11 November.

The prime minister told other leaders at the UN general assembly in New York last month: “The UK will lead again, tackling climate change, at home and internationally and restoring our commitment to international development. The threat of climate change is existential and it is happening in the here and now. So we have reset Britain’s approach.”

Delivering the NDC early is intended to spur other major economies to do the same. However, the big question mark hanging over Cop29 is whether Donald Trump will win the US presidential election, which takes place just five days before. Trump has vowed to dismantle the green industrial stimulus put in place by Joe Biden, boost fossil fuels, and withdraw the US from the Paris agreement.

The UK met the first three five-year carbon budgets set under the Climate Change Act of 2008, but current and future budgets look harder to meet. This carbon budget runs to 2027, and will be assessed at the end of this parliament in 2029. The fifth and sixth carbon budgets call for a cut of 58% in emissions by 2032, and 78% by 2037. The seventh carbon budget will be set by the CCC next year.

Robert Jenrick, the Conservative leadership candidate, has pledged to repeal the Climate Change Act, and his rival in the contest, Kemi Badenoch, is also hostile to the UK’s net zero ambitions.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “Britain is back in the business of climate leadership because the only way to protect current generations in the UK is by making Britain a clean energy superpower, and the only way to protect our children and future generations is by leading global climate action.

Britain's climate advisers urge steeper emissions cut target for 2035

Reuters
Fri 25 October 2024 

A seagull flies past the Big Ben clock on a foggy

SMOG  day in central London

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's climate advisers, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), has recommended in a letter to government that it should commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 81% by 2035 in its upcoming budget next month.

The new Labour government is expected to announce increases in public spending and taxes in its first budget in 14 years next week.

The emissions cut target recommended by the advisers is higher than the current target of a 78% reduction by 2035 compared with 1990 levels and excludes international aviation and shipping emissions.

However, it would make a credible contribution towards limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the committee said.

"With climate damages already felt around the world, targeting an 81% emissions reduction by 2035 sets the right level of ambition," said Piers Forster, interim chair of the committee. "Our analysis shows this can be achieved in a way that benefits jobs and the economy, provided we hit the country’s 2030 target - set in line with the CCC’s advice in 2020," he said.

The government needs to set out an updated climate plan and targets for 2035 before a U.N. deadline of February 2025.

In July this year, the CCC said Britain might miss its 2030 emissions reduction target and was off track to meet a longer-term target of net zero emissions by mid-century.

The advice will also form part of the committee's seventh carbon budget plan covering the years 2038-2042 which is due to be published in February next year.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

“We are grateful to the Climate Change Committee for this expert advice, which we will consider carefully before we announce an ambitious nationally determined contribution target at Cop29 to help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.”

Revealed: Farage-inspired plot to persuade Trump to veto Starmer’s Chagos Islands deal

David Maddox and Andrew Feinberg
Sun 27 October 2024 a

A Nigel Farage-inspired bid to persuade Donald Trump to veto Keir Starmer’s controversial Chagos Islands deal can be revealed today.

The Independent has seen legal advice on Starmer’s controversial deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius sent to Mr Trump that was requested after the Reform UK leader raised the issue directly with the former president’s team.

The advice was drawn up by legal experts who worked alongside Mr Farage in the Brexit campaign.

Mr Farage says he was not directly involved in the legal advice but his links with Trump are believed to have played a vital part in the initiative.

The aim of Farage and his allies is to persuade Trump to block the deal if he becomes president.

The UK/ US airbase on Diego Garcia (DoD/AFP via Getty Images)

While it is claimed the advice was “put into the former president’s hands” the Trump campaign has not confirmed he has seen the document.

It was drawn up by an official working for Tory Brexiteer European Research Group aided by pro-Brexit lawyer Martin Howe KC.

The revelation comes after Trump accused Labour of “election interference” for sending the activists to support Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

Allies of Farage – who has denounced the Chagos deal as a sell-out – are hoping Trump will back their calls to block it.

The legal advice from the barrister questions foreign secretary David Lammy’s assertion that the UK had no choice but to agree to hand over the islands to Mauritius and warns that it could have implications for US held territories like Guam.

Sir Keir’s government signed off on the deal less than three months in office after former Tory foreign secretary James Cleverly started the talks in 2022 before they were shelved by his successor Lord David Cameron.

And the current US administration has expressed support for the agreement.

President Joe Biden said the agreement would guarantee continued use of a joint British-American airbase in Diego Garcia “into the next century,” citing the facility’s “vital role in national, regional, and global security.”

Trump could try to veto the deal (AP)

But fears have been raised that the islands, which command a crucial strategic location in the Indian Ocean, may now be subject to influence from the Chinese government, which may want to build its’ own bases there.

The UK and US airbase has been used for clandestine operations and while the UK owned the islands, it is understood that the US’s interest in the base meant they had a potential veto over and transfer of sovereignty.

Earlier this month, Mr Lammy claimed he had no choice in international law but to hand over the islands to Mauritius. However, this is disputed in the legal note put together for Mr Trump.

Foreign secretary David Lammy agreed the deal (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

But the note claims that a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to support Mauritius’ claim to the Chagos Islands is only “advisory”.

The advice also draws into question the 99-year deal.

“The proposed deal, involving a ‘lease back’ of one of the islands for 99 years, is less secure than sovereignty. Mauritius could change its constitution, re-litigate the matter in the ICJ to improve its terms and leave the UK/USA in a weak position in danger of continual shake downs. Importantly the lease does not contain all of the surrounding Chagos islands, which could, unprotected by British sovereignty, be vulnerable to Chinese pressure to instal listening posts.”

Biden supported the deal (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The talks started after Mauritus won an international court ruling that it should have sovereignty of the islands.

A source close to Mr Lammy said no approach had been made to the British Embassy in Washington by the Trump team on the issue and claimed that the issue is being pushed by political allies of Trump in the UK “who do not agree with the deal”. They also question whether Mr Trump could veto a deal which involved “British not US sovereign territory”.

The Independent has approached Donald Trump’s representatives for comment.

The White House did not respond to a query from The Independent on whether there is any concern about Mr Trump reversing the deal if he wins.